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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. spring — the season
  3. row — a line
  4. band — a ring
  5. club — for dancing
  6. spring — a coil
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. mate — to breed
  9. mate — a friend
  10. row — to paddle
  11. cold — an illness
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. spring — of water
  14. club — for golf
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. root — of a word
  17. root — of a plant
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. mate — a partner
  20. root — the cause
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. club — a group

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com